Spatial variability of soil microbial biomass and its relationships with edaphic, vegetational and climatic factors in the Three-River Headwaters region on Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau

TY - JOUR

T1 - Spatial variability of soil microbial biomass and its relationships with edaphic, vegetational and climatic factors in the Three-River Headwaters region on Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau

AU - Shen, Ruichang

AU - Xu, Ming

AU - Li, Renqiang

AU - Zhao, Fengxia

AU - Sheng, Qingkai

N1 - Funding Information: We thanked Prof. Huang Guilin, Mr. Cui Beixiang, Dr. Liao Chengzhang, Dr. Cui Xueqing, Mr. Hou Meng in Chinese Academy of Forest Inventory and Planning, State Forestry Administration, and Mr. Zhao Fengyu in Forestry Department of Qinghai Province for assisting the field work. We also thanked Dr. Wong, M.H.G. for polishing the English. This study was financially supported by the Monitoring and Evaluation of Ecosystem Services in Qinghai Province, China ( 2013-N-556 ), National Key Research and Development Program of China (973 program) (No. 2012CB417103 ) and Agriculture and Food Research Initiative Competitive Grant (No. NJE-2011-01555 ) from the USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture . Publisher Copyright: © 2015 Elsevier B.V.

PY - 2015/11/1

Y1 - 2015/11/1

N2 - This study aims to investigate the level of soil microbial biomass (MB) and analyze the relationships between soil MB and edaphic, vegetational and climatic factors at high elevation sites (>3000. m). We collected soil samples from 0 to 10. cm soil depth in 259 plots at 55 sites across 6 biomes in Three-River Headwaters (TRH) region at 3280-5127. m elevation. Soil microbial biomass carbon and nitrogen (MBC and MBN) were measured with the chloroform fumigation-extraction method. Multivariate stepwise regression analyses were used to analyze the combined effects of edaphic, vegetational and climatic factors on soil MB. We found: (1) soil MBC and MBN had an average of 30.95. mmol C/kg dry soil and 5.84. mmol N/kg dry soil in TRH, respectively, and their values were found to be negatively correlated with elevation; (2) soil MB was found to be significantly different among different biomes, and this spatial variation could be explained by the levels of soil organic carbon and belowground plant biomass. Our results indicate that the MB at high elevation region might be very low, and the increasing trend of soil microbial biomass with elevation could reverse at higher elevations.

AB - This study aims to investigate the level of soil microbial biomass (MB) and analyze the relationships between soil MB and edaphic, vegetational and climatic factors at high elevation sites (>3000. m). We collected soil samples from 0 to 10. cm soil depth in 259 plots at 55 sites across 6 biomes in Three-River Headwaters (TRH) region at 3280-5127. m elevation. Soil microbial biomass carbon and nitrogen (MBC and MBN) were measured with the chloroform fumigation-extraction method. Multivariate stepwise regression analyses were used to analyze the combined effects of edaphic, vegetational and climatic factors on soil MB. We found: (1) soil MBC and MBN had an average of 30.95. mmol C/kg dry soil and 5.84. mmol N/kg dry soil in TRH, respectively, and their values were found to be negatively correlated with elevation; (2) soil MB was found to be significantly different among different biomes, and this spatial variation could be explained by the levels of soil organic carbon and belowground plant biomass. Our results indicate that the MB at high elevation region might be very low, and the increasing trend of soil microbial biomass with elevation could reverse at higher elevations.

KW - Alpine ecosystem

KW - Biogeochemical cycle

KW - Carbon

KW - Global warming

KW - Nitrogen

KW - Stoichiometry

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84938084427&partnerID=8YFLogxK

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=84938084427&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apsoil.2015.06.011

DO - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apsoil.2015.06.011

M3 - Article

VL - 95

SP - 191

EP - 203

JO - Applied Soil Ecology

JF - Applied Soil Ecology

SN - 0929-1393

ER -